With crimson lipstick, eye-liner, mascara and a beaming smile, Michelle Carter on Friday won a stunning Olympic shot put gold to sprinkle a little glitz on an event often cruelly ridiculed for the shape of its women athletes.
Holding her nerve, the self-proclaimed "Diva" etched her name in the history books with a last-gasp throw. Now the bubbly, fashion-conscious American wants to change the perception of her event and the strong women who compete in it.
"I'm in a sport where people don't look at us like women, they don't look at us like being girls, or feminine," Carter said. "But I've been girly all my life and so I couldn't separate... between the sport and being a woman.